ANTIPOLO – Converge coach Franco Atienza would rather focus on the positives than dwell on the officiating that, some fans claimed, cost the FiberXers the game against San Miguel in the final seconds on Friday night.
The FiberXers fell behind by as many as 19 points before coming back and giving San Miguel a fright in the endgame only to lose, 116-113, in the PBA 49th Season Commissioner's Cup at the Ynares Center.
READ San Miguel survives a fiery Converge fightback - barely
Among the calls questioned by some fans were those that led to the four free throws awarded to CJ Perez off a foul by Jordan Heading with 20.8 seconds remaining.
Fortunately for Converge, the foul didn’t totally cost them the game as Perez made only 1 of 4 free throws for a three-point lead that held until the final buzzer after a few missed opportunities by the FiberXers in the endgame.
Atienza felt the call could have gone either way, but would rather not dwell on the officiating or the fans' comments.
“It can go either way. Puwedeng itawag. Puwedeng hindi. Pero after nun, may chance pa rin naman kami. So if ‘yung mga things na ganun, hindi naman namin control ‘yun. Hindi ko control ‘yun. All we can do is do the best that we can,” said Atienza.
“I think our players did their best. Kung meron man ‘yung tawag na ‘yun, we take it as it is. Kasi at the end of the day, meron pa rin kaming chance makabalik. So kung mag-dedeal kami sa ganun, medyo mahirap.
"If you would deal with that, kahit saang level ng basketball, may mga calls na minsan iisipin mo, hindi dapat natawag o natawag. But if you would look at that, parang hindi naman makakatulong.
"So mag-focus lang kami kung ano ‘yung nasa kontrolado namin, higitan naming silang umiskor, tapos iiskor kami. ‘Yung mga ganung bagay, I think that’s how you should approach that,” said Atienza.
Atienza also noted that a poor start that saw Converge only score 16 points against San Miguel in the first quarter was one of the reasons for the defeat, since it left the FiberXers to play catch-up the whole game.
“Medyo ganun ‘yung story naman nung eliminations, may mga ilang games na medyo flat start against Magnolia, ‘yung Phoenix, eto, Rain or Shine,” said Atienza on the games where the Converge needed to mount a comeback to win.
Atienza lauds Converge's resiliency
While he lamented the flat starts, Atienza lauded the fight that Converge showed in the endgame, something that he hopes they could bring to the playoffs.
"'We want to bank on that, the resilience that we have. Kasi if we have aspirations of going deep to the playoffs, for sure, we will go through teams like this. Puwedeng early sa playoffs, puwedeng sa dulo.
"Dapat masanay na kami na ganun ka-hard ang laruan,” said Atienza.
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